Gardening Terms for the home gardener
Deadhead - No...it is not a Jerry Garcia fan. It's actually removing a spent flower. This will prolong the blooming season and prevents unwanted seedlings. Makes the plant much nicer looking.
Deciduous - Any plant that sheds all of its leaves at any time usually during fall and or winter.
Defoliation - The unnatural loss of leaves. High winds, late frost or damage caused by chemicals, insects or diseases.
Dormancy - What my brain occasionally goes into. It's actually the annual period when a plant growth greatly slows down. This will happen to most plants during winter.
Drainage - The downward movement of water through the soil.
Epiphyte - Epiphytes live on nutrients drawn from rainwater and debris. Not really a parasite.
Espalier - A tree or shrub trained for the purpose of growing along a fence, trellis or horizontal wires.
Evergreen - Evergreens never lose their leaves at one time. Click for evergreen pics
Fertilization - The fusion of male and female gamets following pollination.
Fertilize - To apply nourishments or nutrients to any plant or tree. Click for Fertilizing help
Flower - Here is one not many people know. The reproductive organs of seed-bearing plants.
Frond - Usually the leaves of palms or ferns.
Genus (plural: Genera) - Plant families that are subdivied into groups that are closely related called genera.The first word ina a plants botanical name is its genus.
Girdling - The sound I make when wife says "stop using the computer". This will cut off water and nutrients. If gone unnoticed the plant will die.
Hardy - The plants resistance or tolerance to frosts or freezing temperatures. It does NOT mean resistant to diseases, pests or insects.
Herbaceous - A plant with soft tissue. The term refers to plants that die to the ground each year and regrows stems the following year. A nonwoody plant.
Humus - Stuff that is deep down in the back of my throat. It is actually soft brown or black substance formed in the last stages of decomposition of animal or vegetable matter.
Hybrid - A cross between two species or subspecies of cultivars, strains or any combination of the above. Hybrids sometimes occur in the wild.
Hydroponics - Gardening without soil. Essentially a water based system of growing plants.
Article by: Paul Guzman
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